Alaska Geobotany Center

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Alaska Arctic Tundra Vegetation Map (Raynolds et al. 2006)

The Alaska Arctic Tundra Vegetation Map (AATVM) is a geoecological map of the Arctic Tundra within Alaska. It includes areas north and west of the forest boundary and excludes areas that have a boreal flora such as the Aleutian Islands and alpine tundra regions south of treeline. The map expands on the Alaska portion of the Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map, and was produced with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF Grant # OPP-9908-82), the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Secretariat and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

The map was publishes at 1:4 million scale (Raynolds et al. 2006) and displays the vegetation using 33 map units (legend details: arcticatlas.org/maps/themes/ak/akvg). The back of the map describes 85 vegetation communities included in the map units and associated references. The methods used to make the map are described in Raynolds et al. 2005.

The map is a polygon shapefile, and includes fields for bioclimate subzone, floristic province, substrate chemistry, lake cover, landscape, CAVM vegetation category, and Alaska plant community type. All of the mapped themes are the same as those portrayed on the CAVM, with the smaller Alaska extent, except for the vegetation theme, which subdivides the CAVM categories. The elevation and AVHRR images were used in the mapping process.